ALIGNMENT: True Neutral (slight good
tendencies)
HIT POINTS: 67
ARMOR CLASS: 7
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-4 (dagger) or 1-6
(+3) (staff)
HIT BONUS: +3 (with staff)
MOVE: 12”
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
STRENGTH: 12
INTELLIGENCE: 19
WISDOM: 18/74
DEXTERITY: 17
CONSTITUTION: 15
CHARISMA: 17

Sparrowhawk was born on the isle of
Gont on the world of Earthsea; in his
youth he was a goatherder in the mountains.
He learned rudimentary magic from
a local witch and spoke his first spell at
age 7. A powerful wizard on the island
recognized the immense powers the boy
possessed, and he was allowed to go to a
wizard’s school on another island to
learn more of the arcane art of spellcasting.
He quickly exceeded all expectations
of him, but overreached himself
when he accidentally conjured forth a
demon-like creature that attempted to
slay him.

When he recovered, much the wiser,
he left the school at graduation and began
his travels through the great islanddotted
oceans of Earthsea. He became a
Dragonlord, one who knows the language
of dragons and can converse with
them without harm. In time his powers
grew so advanced that he was declared
to be the Archmage of Earthsea, the
most powerful wizard who ever lived on
the world. Despite this, he has no desire
for anything beyond the improvement of
his art and the maintenance of the balance
of nature, magic, and life.

On the world of Earthsea, all things
have two names: a True Name, by which
something may have magic cast upon it,
and a Use Name for everyday affairs. To
call someone by his or her True Name
renders that person vulnerable to willforce
type magics (no saving throw) cast
by the name-caller. No one reveals their

True Name except to the most trusted
companions one has, if indeed to anyone.
Sparrowhawk keeps his True Name secret
in the same way to protect himself.
Sparrowhawk is an excellent sailor as
well as a spell-caster, and his voyages
over Earthsea have taken him to many
strange lands and cultures. He appears
to be a man of average height and
weight, with dark reddish copper-brown
skin and pale grey hair; one side of his
face is scarred, from the attack of the
demon-thing long ago. He will carry little
else with him besides his staff, a bronze
knife, and assorted rations and equipment.
The staff is made of black yew
wood, and if used when casting a spell
doubles the range and area of effect of
the spell. It also serves as a +3 staff, and
can be used to destroy or turn away undead
as if Sparrowhawk was a 14th-level
Cleric. Summoned or enchanted monsters
must save vs. magic if confronted
by the staff or be cast back to their home
plane. Sparrowhawk is beardless, and his
age is difficult to estimate; he is in his
40’s or 50’s at best guess. In truth he is
not ageless, and looks forward to a normal
human lifespan.

The boat used by Earthsea’s Arch-  <what kind of boat?>
mage is called the Lookfar. It appears to
be a normal sailing craft. It can hear and
obey Sparrowhawk’s every command,
and if summoned will sail to him across
any distance. Its hold carries three times
what would be expected of it, and Sparrowhawk
has many items stored there
for long voyages.

Sparrowhawk is no showoff, and goes
to great lengths to avoid casting unnecessary
magic. He dislikes those who
express strong opinions on alignments
other than his own, but is willing to reason
with them to show how Neutrality is
the best course. Undead are pitied by
him, and he will do his utmost to send
their souls to rest with his staff and
spells. Being a Dragonlord, he has immense
respect for all dragons and can
speak with any of them without fear of
their attacking him (if the dragon can be
convinced he wants nothing from it).
Rarely will the Archmage interfere in any
affairs but his own, unless the balance of
the world is upset by one alignment or
the other (besides Neutrality); then, depending
upon the seriousness of the situation,
he may become involved.

Since Sparrowhawk’s magic is so
closely tied to his native world, there is a
10% chance per level of the spell attempted
that his magic will not work in the
D&D world in which he is encountered. If
he casts a spell in a foreign world, he will
not be able to recover that spell until he
returns to Earthsea. In Earthsea he has
no such limits, and can actually cast any
of his spells once per round for as long
as he likes without needing to relearn
each one. Even there, however, he casts
few spells if he can help it.

If any characters go to Earthsea, Sparrowhawk
will recommend they adopt
aliases to avoid revealing their True
Names (their real character names). Otherwise,
the characters risk becoming subject
to magical spells with little chance of
resisting will-force attacks like Charms
and Holds.

List of possible spells for Sparrowhawk:
(Note: Spells printed in italic type are
new spells, described in the text which
follows the lists.)

Druidic spells
First level — Animal Friendship, Locate
Animals, Pass Without Trace, Predict
Weather, Purify Water, Speak With
Animals.

Second level —Charm Person or Mam
mal, Create Water, Cure Light Wounds,
Locate Plants, Obscurement, Warp
Wood.

Third level — Call Lightning,
Cure Blindness or Deafness, Cure Disease,
Hold Animal, Increase Animal Fertility,
Neutralize Poison.

Fourth level — Animal Summoning I,
Cure Serious Wounds, Hallucinatory Forest,
Increase Plant fertility, Produce
Fire, Wood Shape.

Fifth level — Animal Summoning II,
Commune With Nature, Control Winds,
Cure Plant Disease, Speak With Monsters.

Sixth level — Animal Summoning III,
Cure Critical Wounds, Magewind, Weather
Summoning.

Seventh level — Confusion, Control
Weather, Prevent Earthquake.

Cure Blindness or Deafness — As per
3rd-level Cleric spell Cure Blindness;
caster declares which ailment is to be
cured.

Increase Animal Fertility — When cast
upon any animal or group of animals,
sterility is cured and pregnancy (with
many offspring) is guaranteed.

Increase Plant Fertility — As above,
but increases seed production and makes
germination more likely.

Wood Shape—As per 5th-level Magic-
User spell Stone Shape, only applied to
wood and material of vegetable matter.
Cure Plant Disease — Affects an area
of 100 square feet per level of the spellcaster.
All plant diseases (rot, rice blast,
mold, etc.) are removed at once.

Speak With Monsters — As per 6thlevel
Cleric spell Speak With Monsters.

Magewind — Creates a strong wind
lasting for 3 hours per level of the spellcaster,
its direction controlled completely
by the caster. Used to propel sailing
craft at maximum safe speed across the
sea.

Prevent Earthquake — Delays the onset
of a natural or magical earthquake by
1 day per level of the spell-caster; may be
dispelled at any time before then.

Illusionist spells

First level — Audible Glamer, Change
Self, Detect Illusion, Phantasmal Force,
Wall of Fog.

Second level — Blindness, Deafness,
Detect Magic, Fog Cloud, Improved
Phantasmal Force.

Third level — Continual Light or Darkness,
Dispel Illusion, Hallucinatory Terrain,
Paralyzation, Spectral Force.

Fourth level — Dispel Exhaustion,
Emotion, Massmorph, Minor Creation,
Shadow Monsters.

Fifth level — Chaos, Demi-Shadow
Monsters, Dispel Shadow, Major Creation,
Projected Image.

Sixth level — Permanent Illusion, Programmed
Illusion, True Sight, Veil.

Seventh level — Alter Reality, Astral
Spell, plus the following first-level
Magic-User spells: Affect Normal Fires,
Comprehend Languages, Erase, Friends,
Magic Missile, Mending, Message, Nystul’s
Magic Aura, Protection from Evil,
Shield, Sleep.

Continual Light or Darkness — As per
3rd-level Illusionist spell Continual Light,
with 6” radius globe for area of effect.

Dispel Shadows — Caster may dispel
one Shadow (as per AD&D MM) for every three levels of experience
the caster possesses. Shadows get
no saving throw against this spell.

Magic-User spells

First level — Dancing Lights, Hold Portal,
Light, Read Magic, Write.

Second level — Compass Magic, ESP,
Knock, Levitate, Locate Object.

Third level — Clairaudience, Clairvoyance,
Dispel Magic, Gust of Wind, Hold
Person.

Fourth level — Charm Monster, Extension
I, Polymorph Other, Polymorph Self,
Remove Curse.

Fifth level — Conjure Elemental, Contact
Other Plane, Deanimate Dead, Extension
II, Hold Monster.

Sixth level — Enchant an Item, Geas,
Globe of Invulnerability, Guards and
Wards.

Seventh level — Charm Plants, Limited
Wish, Power Word Stun.

Eighth level — Telepathic Communication,
Permanency, Polymorph Any
Object.

Ninth level — Shapechange, Create
Staff.

Compass Magic — For one hour per
level of the spell-caster, a compass may
be caused to point in the direction of a
desired port or location instead of to
magnetic north.

Deanimate Dead — The spell-caster
causes one Skeleton or Zombie (see
Monster Manual) to be deanimated (destroyed)
per level of the spell-caster.

Telepathic Communication — As per
psionic discipline Telepathy. No saving
throw; affects one individual only. No
range limitations.

Create Staff —The spell-caster plucks
a blade of grass, and with this spell can
create a temporary magical staff equivalent
to the one used by Sparrowhawk.

This staff will last for one turn per level of
the caster.

NOTE: While it is possible for Sparrowhawk
to use all new spells given as he
likes, the DM should determine whether
or not other characters can learn them.
Sparrowhawk may well decide to not
teach his special spells to new persons,
being concerned for how they might be
used.

The magical system used on Earthsea
is considerably different from that used
in the D&D or AD&D games; unless the
True Name of an item is known, no magic
can affect it. Saving throws are not
normally used. DM’s should study the
Earthsea Trilogy carefully and develop
rules for the magical systems carefully if
the players are to be taken there during
an adventure. Material components for
Sparrowhawk’s spells are rarely required;
the Create Staff spell is an exception.
For students at the wizards’ school on
Earthsea, hard work and practice can
make many of them equal to AD&D Wizards
and Mages while they are still in
their teen-age years.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: The Earthsea Trilogy (A
Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The
Farthest Shore) (paperback, Bantam Books)
by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Written by Roger E. Moore
 

Giants in the Earth

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Dragon 48